We had the first part of Cole’s (Andy & Tommy’s favorite cousin  ) two part birthday extravaganza tonight with all his little friends.  Part two will be Sunday.  Tomorrow, my college friend Luci is coming from Brazil for her 2 year old’s birthday party!   Lots of kids and parties…my kinds of weekend!  I have to wake up early and drive to Newport Beach, so I’ll just post these pictures (more here) now and wish everyone a nice weekend!

The Flying Spaghetti Monster (also known as the Spaghedeity) is the deity of a parody religion called The Church of the Flying Spaghetti Monster and its system of beliefs, “Pastafarianism” The religion was founded in 2005 by Bobby Henderson to protest the decision by the Kansas State Board of Education to require the teaching of intelligent design as an alternative to biological evolution. Because intelligent design
implies the existence of an intelligent, but not necessarily omnipotent
or omniscient designer, some, like Henderson, argued that this designer
could, in fact, be anything imaginable. (Source: Wikipedia and  Haochi)

Cole had his First Communion this past weekend.  It brought back many memories of my own First Communion as well as some of the more ritualistic things I actually enjoy about the Catholic Church.  Coincidentally, on the way home, NPR‘s weekly religion show “Speaking of Faith” departed from their usual format to “listen to a spectrum of lay Catholic voices on the force of vast and ancient tradition on their lives, the way they struggle with it, the sources of their love for it. Even to be a “lapsed Catholic,” we hear, is a complex state of being.“  It was really interesting, and helped me understand some of my current struggles with religion a bit better.  At any rate, it was a beautiful day, and Cole seemed to have a great time!

Mapping the landscape of Catholic voices

We went to Cole’s Little League game tonight, and I’m a heck of a lot more sore than any of the players!

  

While the rest of our family back in the Midwest hunted for frozen Easter eggs in the snow, Southern California basked in 100 degree plus temperatures!  It was so hot, my bunny melted!

The kids had fun though and Jennifer cooked an amazing meal.  Thanks Jenn!

 
Easter 2008, Cole, Tressa, Andy & Tommy….compared to:

Easter 2005, Tressa, Cole Tommy and…

Andy (with Great Grandma in 2005)

Hey kids, I was just in a car accident!  Some things never change

Tommy & his favorite cousin

Yes, it was over 100 in the sun!

And here are the best of the rest:

Andy stole the show all day as this video will attest:

My friend Diane is a remarkable woman.  A little more than a year after giving birth to her first set of twin boys Cole & Carter, Trey & Tyler were born in 2002.  Add big brother Jaden to the mix, and well, see for yourself.  Happy birthday boys!

Happy New Year from Rain

Ho Ho Ho!  I hope everyone had a Merry Christmas.  Fred & Susie had Christmas Eve this year for the first time in their new house.  There was SO much more space than we usually have and the kids had plenty of room to run around and play.  The only problem for me, was the 3 cats but I survived.  We did a grab bag this year, which was really nice.  I got a great leather camera bag and an extra camera battery from Sam. 

These are some of the little photo Christmas tree ornaments I made this year.  I thought they came out pretty well.  I still need to work on finding the right photo dimensions though.

Fred & Sue’s backyard is right out of Gilligan’s Island

 
There are even banana trees

And persimmons

And a tennis and basketball court (OK, maybe not like Gilligan’s Island!)  Damn, I should have been a sports photographer (not)!

Curtis, Kevin, Susie, Fred, Cody, Kyle & Kenny

Rob, Cole, Tressa & Jenn

Lisa, Andy, Tommy & Joel

Tressa, Tommy, Andy, Carey, Cole & Cody

Pre Santa

One eyed Buster and Roxy in their Christmas finest

We had the webcams going with our family back home in Chicago.  My brother was showing me the snow there, so I took my laptop outside and…

pointed the webcam at the thermometer

Which kind of reminded me of this photo of my Dad which was taken 30 years ago on  Christmas Day 1977.  We called out to my aunt and uncle in California and (the same ones I’m here with now) and they said it was 80° and they were barbecuing.  My Dad told them he was cooking out too…and this picture was born. 

Nice legs Dad!

Everyone seemed to really like their presents.  The girls got brand new Nikon SLR’s.  I got the new Stephen Colbert book, and a new Gorilla Tripod, a bluetooth mouse, the Hairspray “shake & shimmy” DVD, the Camp DVD, some toiletries, sweatshirts, hats, a crystal globe from Italy and a heated towel rack.  The kids all got new DS games, and were actually quiet most of the afternoon.  We took them to see Alvin & the Chipmunks tonight (save your money), and then I drove home to prepare for Bassam’s arrival.

As I watched my niece (via webcam in Chicago) open her presents this morning, I was reminded that this year she announced that she no longer believed in Santa Claus  (She’s 19.  j/k).    This is interesting to me, as I’ve had the Santa discussion a few times in the past month with friends.  We discussed it in Portland over Thanksgiving (is it OK to lie to your kids?).  Tyson and I discussed it after the God debate.  I personally feel the power of myth can be a good thing, and that the Santa myth is pretty darn time tested and solid.  I also found it interesting to note that my niece wanted to spend Christmas morning watching her little sister (who still believes in Santa) open presents, before going over to her Dad’s house (her parents are divorced).  So Santa or no Santa, God or no God, most of us can’t resist watching kids open presents on Christmas morning.

Children believe in Santa Claus. Creationists believe in creationism. But children eventually discard their belief in the Man in Red on the basis of evidence. So why don’t creationists? The issue here is not so much that creationism is bad science – though it clearly is and that is a serious issue. The issue here is that it is bad Christianity: blinkered, arrogant, literalistic, paranoid, pusillanimous, delusional, anti-truth, world-denying, and cringingly embarrassing Dawkins bait. (This is hardly the place to dredge through the overwhelming scientific case against creationism. It can be done perfectly well in one word anyway: fossils.)  But the parallels between these two beliefs, creationism and Santaism, are more extensive than you might have noticed.

Both start out as reasonable assumptions. Children are not fools, but believe in Santa on the authority of their parents, who have proved a reliable source of information. Just as Christians have found the Bible an invaluable source of information about the ways of God.

But new information makes children rethink their understanding of authority: not every story their parents have told them is literally true, but that does not make them untrustworthy in more important things. Likewise the mature Christian response grasps that God might have good reasons for letting myths be told with his seal of approval on them.  Read more…

And not to beat a dead horse, but Daniel finally responded to the fracas over the D’Souza debate, and seeing as he is one of my most learned friends, I thought I’d post his response here:

On the subject of atheism vs. Christianity there is much to be said. The subject will naturally submerge us into polemics of the most invidious variety. What it ultimately comes down to is this: there are those whose belief systems are culturally and emotionally grounded, and those that choose not to subscribe to what could be construed as anthropomorphic delusion.

Although I would not purport to be a Christian per se, (despite my interest in Jewish literature and Church history) to declare myself an atheist would be both limited in scope and suggest I am seemingly indigent of imagination. An atheist believes there is no God. The problem with an absolute declaration like this is that it begs the question: what exactly do we mean by God? If by God we mean the God of the ancient Hebrews (and subsequently what some would consider the figure of Christ himself) then yes, I am an atheist on the basis that I reject the notion of a personal God. This is partially because I believe that neither the Hebrew nor the Christian weltanschauung has any right to sanctimoniously declare their self-proclaimed, respective apexes of the theological realm to be the center piece of world religions. Their rituals, which are by and large a hypocritical pre-occupation and overindulgence in sin and self-righteousness, limit the average parishioner’s ability to enter the realm of authentic spiritual ecstasy (unless you count those freaky quacks having fake orgasms on the Christian music commercials). Contrast their practices with those of the Hindus or Buddhists, and you will find that by comparison, many Christians don’t really enter into the true realm of spirit (not to level that those seeking nirvana or Krishna-consciousness would be). Buddhism and Hinduism spiritually engage their followers and encourage their quest while in the midst of life (I have witnessed this first hand). Granted, like the Christians and Jews, those religions likely mold, limit, and shape the views of their followers, but at least they are getting more spiritually advanced in the process. There is no waiting for the afterlife (which is why Marx called it the opiate of the masses) as the central focus of its tenets.

On the other hand, to deny any possibility that there is any mystery to the magic of the living realm and how it originated (as the atheist might purport) would be just as narrow-minded as the belief that missionary work is necessary because the whole world should be subservient to just one arrogant admonition (or the ethnocentric Ann Coulter imposistionist view). Empirical science should inspire awe and wonder in humans; not the close minded, fixed views that characterize the repugnant nature of many organized religions. 

Speaking of “fossils” and creation, get a load of this:

It’s an exhibit at the “Creation Museum” in Kentucky (I couldn’t make this shit up!), that depicts a “penis free” Adam naming a sabre tooth tiger in the Garden of Eden.  Nice kitty.  But wait a Kentucky minute!  “Genesis 2:25 clearly says that at this point in Adam & Eve’s life, “And the man and his wife were both naked, and they were not ashamed.” If Adam courageously sat there unencumbered while he was naming saber-toothed tigers, then why, six thousand years later, should he be depicted as a eunuch in some family-values Eden? And if these people can take away what Scripture says was rightfully his, then why can’t Charles Darwin and the accumulated science of the past 150-odd years take away all the rest of it?” 

The first thing one notices when walking into this den of deceit is the dinosaurs.  Interestingly, they have saddles and are being RIDDEN BY PEOPLE!  I’m sorry, but I found this concept ridiculous at the age of 8 when I saw it on the Flinstones!!!  (This is like shooting fish in a barrel!)

Welcome to white trash (the woman in this picture is likely holding a Bic Mac and a cigarette in her other hand.)

As this excellent Esquire article points out:

The dinosaurs are the first things you see when you enter the Creation Museum, which is very much a work in progress and the dream child of an Australian named Ken Ham. Ham is the founder of Answers in Genesis, an organization of which the museum one day will be the headquarters. The people here today are on a special tour. They have paid $149 to become”charter members” of the museum.

“Dinosaurs,” Ham laughs as he poses for pictures with his visitors, “always get the kids interested.”

AIG is dedicated to the proposition that the biblical story of the creation of the world is inerrant in every word. Which means, in this interpretation and among other things, that dinosaurs coexisted withman (hence the saddles), that there were dinosaurs in Eden, and that Noah, who certainly had enough on his hands, had to load two brachiosaurs onto the Ark along with his wife, his sons, and their wives, to say nothing of green ally-gators and long-necked geese and humpty-backed camels and all the rest.

(Faced with the obvious question of how to keep a three-hundred-by-thirty-by-fifty-cubit ark from sinking under the weight of dinosaur couples, Ham’s literature argues that the dinosaurs on the Ark were young ones, and thus did not weigh as much as they might have.)

“We,” Ham exclaims to the assembled, “are taking the dinosaurs back from the evolutionists!” And everybody cheers.  Read more about the broader dumbing down of America…

The Times of London, said this, when this creationist crap pot opened last May:  “The $27 million (£14 million) exhibition is funded by evangelical Christians, who apparently believe that by reclaiming dinosaurs and fossils for their literal biblical interpretation of natural history, teenagers are less likely to look at internet pornography or get pregnant out of wedlock.”

It’s 3 AM and I’m going to bed.  In the meantime, here are the rest of the photos and a couple of videos I shot.  The first one is of the kids opening their presents.  The second one is of me singing Darcy the Dragon to Andy & Tressa on Christmas Eve and for some reason it’s all jacked up.  I think it’s a codec issue, but I’ve already spent way too much time trying to figure it out and it’s still messed up.  You’ll get the idea though.  I hope everyone had a Merry Christmas!  –Carey

Long Day!  Ben & Missy were in town, but I only got to spend an hour tonight with them.  Will hopefully see them for brunch tomorrow.  I took the kids to see Enchanted tonight.  They loved it.  I have to admit, so did I.  Afterwards we went to a cookie exchange, and had a spaghetti dinner too.  It’s 2 AM and I’m still full.  I goofed around with a few of these pictures just for effect.  I’m just going to post these because I’m exhausted.  Nighty night!

The City of West Hollywood held its annual Halloween Carnaval last night, and it was attended by more than 300,000 revelers.  Since it takes place literally at the bottom of my street, parking was not a problem for me.  I simply walked down the street in my Steve Irwin costume, and entered the mayhem. 

After less than an hour, I was freezing in my shorts and t-shirt.  I have no idea how half of those guys walked around bare chested (and more/less) all night long.  So I ran back home and got a hooded sweatshirt, and ditched the shorts.

Later in the evening, the crowd was so dense that you couldn’t even walk by yourself, you were just being pushed like cattle to move forward.  It made me realize how stampedes can kill people; something I never understood before!  At one point I was walking in the street, next to the curb, and I got pushed to the right.  As I moved my foot up to the curb, it only went halfway, and my ankle twisted to what felt like 90°.  I immediately fell over in retching pain.  My friends literally had to almost carry me home.  I iced it when I got home and when I woke up this morning, my ankle was the size of a cantaloupe!  Needless to say, I’m not walking anywhere today! 

Maybe not a cantaloupe but it hurts!

Anyway, here are some of the pre-sprain photos.  Enjoy!

I thought this was the most creative (and scariest) costume of the evening!

One of my favorites from last night!

This kid was so wide-eyed and adorable.

Run for your life, it’s a cute gay Teletubby!

Holy Chiquita Banana!

Satanic priest and Indian??

Mini-Kiss, that’s why you can’t see them.  LOL

Speaking of botox…Brokeback Botox!

 

 

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And finally, my friend Jennifer sent me this picture of Drew that makes me smile every time I look at it.  In case you’re wondering, Drew is the baby I’m holding in this picture that I sometimes use on my profile, which was taken a year ago.  He’s really growing up!

And my cousin Jennifer sent me this photo of all the neighborhood kids on their front porch before they went trick or treating.  The shark, and the homeless bum holding “The End is Coming” sign, should really win some type of prize.  Priceless!

Yesterday was Darlene’s birthday, so the family gathered at a pizza/pasta place and celebrated.  The kids played video games and a good time was had by all.  I had to go into my office yesterday so I took the dogs and then Lisa came to pick them up, so they played with her dogs all day.  I have a couple of friends in town this weekend, so will probably take a couple of days off blogging.  I hope everyone has a nice weekend. –Carey